The Cost of Escape

*Pant*

*Pant*

*Pant*

Art slowly brought his breathing under control. He had been so close to dying once again.

He placed a hand on his damp, bloodied chest.

He had managed to escape by using the space swap attribute he copied to switch places with the clone he left in the forest. Normally, the space swap attribute didn’t work over such long distances, but it works specially well with the clone attribute since the clone carried the same mana signature as him. So, It was successful—though at an immense cost.

The technique had drained a large amount of his mana, leaving his MP low. He had also timed it as perfectly as he could, but she had been too fast, managing to partially pierce him before the switch.

If he had been even an instant slower, he would be dead by now.

"I need to leave," he muttered, pushing himself up and staggering away. This place had nearly killed him twice—he had no intention of returning.